Gee, what isn't new in Las Vegas? That they want to take your money and will do so by any means necessary. Cynical? Hardly. That is, after all, why this town was built, and don't, for a minute, think anything else.
Otherwise, everything is new in Las Vegas. This town is afflicted with terminal restlessness and must keep finding new ways of attracting visitors who can then be relieved of their money. Heck, by the time we've finished writing this, everything we've written, everything in the whole town, will be outdated, changed, or somehow different.
Perhaps we exaggerate. But really, only a little. Hotels are routinely renovating, upgrading, redecorating their rooms, and changing their themes (because everyone knows that a Spanish theme will bring in more tourist dollars than a Mardi Gras theme -- that is, until they decide it's been long enough with the Spanish theme and then switch to an Asian one), and that's only if they aren't blowing up the hotel and starting over from scratch. New restaurants with celebrity chefs and big prices open, and longtime stalwarts with comfort food for the ages close. Shows that have been touted with enormous billboards and bigger budgets close in the blink of an eye. Please remember this and think kindly of us if anything in this book is inaccurate. Because that's why.
So, as we write this, what's new? Or even, what's going to be new?
Everything Old is New Again
May 15, 2005, was the 100th anniversary of Las Vegas. (We aren't sure exactly how they calculated it, but it has something to do when land leases were signed.) A Vegas-style blowout (and we mean that in terms of both size and absurdity) never quite materialized, though there were parades and fireworks, and the city brought back Helldorado, the Wild West-themed day that was observed for 60 years but dropped some time ago. Various 100-year-themed exhibits are still on display; check www.lasvegas2005.org for details.
The monorail, months after its original opening date, finally launched in July 2004, only to close minutes later when a piece fell off, only to reopen, only to close, only to reopen, only to . . . well, you get the idea. When it works, it works swell -- who doesn't love a monorail -- but the fees are ridiculous -- $3 each time you get on. Though it is a much nicer (and cooler) way of traveling up and down the Strip, one that could relieve the horrible traffic problems to some extent, the monorail is simply not yet popular enough to make a difference. If it doesn't get enough patronage, local government will take it over. For now, any extensions to Downtown are on hold.
Planning Your Trip
"What happens here, stays here." (If only that applied to damage done to our hips and liver!) If you didn't know that the Disneyfication of Vegas was dead and gone, this new city motto, which pretty much encourages visitors to go forth and sin freely, should confirm it. Vegas has reclaimed its adult roots with glee, and that whole Britney minute-marriage was just the kind of publicity the motto needed. The point is, this is not a city that is "great for families," as people still apparently think. It's a city loaded with topless revues, nekkid shows, bars, and other glorious adult pursuits. Go ahead, get married to a stranger if you must, but do think twice about dragging Junior along with you to Sin City.
With the economy in flux, continuing concerns about security during travel, and all sorts of world-shaking events occurring, tourism for Vegas is up and down and up and down, and what you are going to face is unpredictable. Conventions are still coming to town -- not as huge, perhaps, as in the past, but enough to make hotel bookings impossible during their staging. The rest of the time, you might well find a bargain, especially if that time lands Sunday through Thursday. Or you might find that all the hotels are handling their losses by charging up the wazoo for a room even during a slow period. We can't quite figure it out.
Accommodations
All kinds of thrilling news here. The most obvious to you will be that new gleaming resort toward the north end of the Strip, the one that has put Steve Wynn's name literally at the top of the town. That's right, his brand new resort hotel, Wynn Las Vegas, 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S., at the corner of Sands Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89109 (tel. 888/320-9966 or 702/770-7100; fax 702/770-1571; www.wynnlasvegas.com), is the tallest regular building in the city (the Stratosphere is taller, but that's a needle, so it's sort of cheating). The $2.7 billion state-of-the-art hotel gives the city another 4,000 rooms, plus high-end shopping, celebrity chef-run restaurants, a new 18-hole golf course (not sure what was wrong with the old Desert Inn one it replaced, but what do we know?), an art gallery, a Ferrari dealership, a couple popular shows, and much, much more. That this was a big deal was apparent when Vanity Fair did a spread on the hotel's opening. The reviews were mixed, mostly along the lines of "Though it certainly is swell, we aren't sure what makes it all that different from Bellagio, and did it really need to cost that much?"
This being Vegas, "top this" is the mantra, and some take that literally. Wynn himself already has plans for Encore, another billion-dollar-plus addition with 1,500 more rooms, more casino, more restaurants, more everything. But that's not until 2008, at the earliest. Meanwhile, right next door, at The Venetian, there is a very big hole in the ground that, by 2007, will hold up its new tower, Palazzo, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas, NV 89109 (tel. 888/2-VENICE or 702/414-1000; fax 702/414-4805; www.venetian.com), which will, in turn, contain another 3,000 rooms and will be 53 stories tall. That's two stories taller, you see, than Wynn, which is, as we said, right next door. Bigger is, of course, better, and taller better still, and so Donald Trump has decided he can't possibly be outdone in such matters, and therefore his Trump International, two towers of hotel rooms and condos, will be 60-something stories. This hasn't even broken ground yet (though there is a sales office, built to the tune of $3 million, taking offers on the condos, which allegedly are already sold out). This news only prompted an Australian group, partnered with a certain ex-Mrs. Trump, to announce that their condo tower, farther north up the Strip, will be 75 stories high, the tallest in Vegas, and will be dubbed, of course, the Ivana. Take that, Donald! The town giggles delightedly over all this display of architectural macho.
Less obvious to the naked eye, Mandalay Resorts agreed to a $4.8-billion takeover by MGM MIRAGE. The new giant will own more than half the hotel rooms on the Strip. That's great news for shareholders, but lousy news for visitors, who will find even fewer bargains on Strip rooms as competition dries up -- especially now that Harrah's and Caesars have also joined forces, leaving pretty much all the hotels on the Strip in about two sets of corporate hands. The newly combined MGM MIRAGE-Mandalay Group is starting off with a bang, announcing the destruction of the old Boardwalk Hotel, to be replaced by 2010 by the most ambitious project yet in a town full of 'em: Project CityCenter. Get this: It will contain, if it all comes to fruition, not just a 4,000-room megaresort and casino and all that goes with it (shops, restaurants, clubs), but also three 400-room boutique hotels (hot rumor: one of those will be a Ritz-Carlton; either way, excellent news, as boutique hotels are the one kind of lodging this town is lacking), plus a couple thousand condo units and even more shopping, clubs, and restaurants separate from those belonging to the hotel complex.
Three other hotels will also be open by the time you read this, but we bet you won't even notice the new Sun Coast (so far down south on the Strip, it will be the first hotel there, and will include a world-class equestrian center), the Red Rock Station (way out west on the way to Red Rock Canyon), or the Conrad, the new four-star (or is it five?) hotel resort going up next to The Rivera on the site of the former El Concho.
Other hotels aren't stopping either; the Bellagio, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. S. at the corner of Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (tel. 888/987-6667 or 702/693-7111; fax 702/693-8546; www.bellagio.com), just opened its new Spa Tower and has given all original rooms makeovers to match the new accommodations. Caesars will be opening its new Augustus Tower, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S. just north of Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (tel. 877/427-7243 or 702/731-7110; www.caesars.com), with 900 new rooms, by the time you read this. The Hard Rock, 4455 Paradise Rd. at Harmon Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (tel. 800/473-ROCK or 702/693-5000; fax 702/693-5588; www.hardrockhotel.com), is building new sets of rooms and even condos, though they aren't adding to their casino space. And Lowe's hotels is building a 400-room facility at the end of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Lake Las Vegas, on the other side of the water from the Ritz-Carlton. And MGM Grand just announced plans to redo all their rooms as well.
Dining
Lotsa fun going on here, mostly due to Steve Wynn, who really does know how to woo a chef. American Iron Chef Alex Strada left Renoir at The Mirage (which closed) to follow his old boss over to Wynn Las Vegas, and opened up his eponymous Alex restaurant, Las Vegas Blvd. S., in Wynn Las Vegas hotel (tel. 888/320-7110 or 702/770-9966; www.wynnlasvegas.com). James Beard Award-winning Paul Bartolotta moved his authentic Italian cooking to his own self-named establishment at 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S. in the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. Master French chef Alain Ducasse is behind Mix, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., in THEhotel (tel. 877/632-1766). And Jean-Philippe Patissere has the world's tallest chocolate fountain, at 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. S., in Bellagio (tel. 702/693-8788). Oh, and a World Champion Gold Medal-winning pastry chef is running the joint, too.
About Casino Gambling
There is a big change quietly happening all over town -- and actually, the key word here is quiet. Like us, perhaps you thrill to that distinct sound of coins dropping, clinkclinkclinkclinkclink, as you cash out on your slot (or poker) machine. That sound will always be with us, but very soon it's just going to be a programmed audio track because all the major casinos (and maybe all of them, period) are changing their machines over to a cashless system, wherein the payouts will come in the form of printed slips you take to exchange at the cages. And many slots and other machines won't even take coins at all. Gone are the days when one could dump that pocket full of loose change in a slot as one passed by. Meanwhile, many casinos, especially the ones belonging to "resort hotels" are easing up on the noise factor; there is considerably less bingbingdingdingdingdingding going on in the casinos, which is fine in terms of noise pollution, but still. Gambling will never be the same again.
Shopping
The Esplanade at Wynn Las Vegas is another high-end shopping dream, with all sorts of famous-maker labels, from Dior to Chanel, Gaultier to Blahnik, Vuitton to de la Renta, and more. Never one to stop with the expansion, the Forum Shops in Caesars have undergone yet another huge expansion, this one with a three-story glass entrance right near the Strip. While the Esplanade is pretty much like the shopping area at Bellagio, this new area is unlike any other one in Vegas, with all kinds of natural light pouring into an overblown, suitably Caesars' affair (expect many large and gaudy statues, fountains, and more assaults on good taste -- we adore it). Shops include Agent Provacateur lingerie, Vosages chocolates, Juicy Couture, Kiehl's cosmetics, Brooks Brothers, Harry Winston, and more.
Las Vegas After Dark
It's clear that everyone is open to putting the "sin" back in Sin City, as more adult-oriented shows make a comeback. Still more fancy new strip joints made the scene around the time we wrote this, and, of course, Cirque du Soleil's ode to human sexuality and the gullibility of theatergoers (nope, we didn't care for it), Zumanity, opened.
Céline Dion's show continues to look like a hit (it seems to be selling very well), and when she's got days off, Elton John has brought his own combination production show and concert act to Caesars. Unlike Miss Dion's, Mr. John's show has received critical raves for its construction and use of multimedia, and was just renewed through 2008. Elton's example has inspired other musical luminaries; Barry Manilow is pleasing his fanilows with his residency at the Hilton, while Stevie Nicks is sometimes filling in gaps between Elton and Céline at Caesars.
Just as there can't be enough hotel rooms in Vegas, there can't be enough Cirque, and so MGM Grand got one of its own. We rolled our eyes, but KA (in the MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; tel. 877/880-0880; www.cirquedusoleil.com) is not only terrific, but it completely sold us on the idea that, yes, Vegas does need more Cirque shows. Consequently, we look forward to their Beatles-themed extravaganza, opening sometime in 2006 at The Mirage, in the old Siegfried and Roy theater. Then again, Le Rêve in Wynn Las Vegas, 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; tel. 888/320-7110), a Cirque-like production at Wynn Las Vegas, proved there can be a bit too much of a good thing, especially if all one is doing is fulfilling a tried-and-true formula without attempting a new vision. But Wynn Las Vegas is making up for that with the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q (which, as a result, unlike other Broadway blockbusters, will not have a road tour at all) in a custom-built, $40-million, 1,200-seat theater that should be open fall 2005. Given that the production is based around puppets, this is a bigger risk than one might think. Also opening at The Venetian is a slightly revamped Blue Man Group, shifting over from the Luxor, which in its place will mount a production of the Tony-winning musical Hairspray. Also at The Venetian will be that perennial fave Phantom of the Opera. Look for both, in somewhat shortened forms, to open around mid-2006.
Rumors
Vegas just loves gossiping about big plans and changes. None of this is confirmable -- we can't even get most hotels to confirm their rates -- but this gives you an idea of the dreams this city dreams.
The hot-off-the-press rumor has the newly conjoined Harrah's and Caesars setting their sights on Bally's; it will be either remodeled and rebranded as Harrah's Horseshoe (the company bought the name from the venerable Binion's Downtown) or torn down entirely.
Several other Strip hotels continue to be the subject of speculation. An announcement is supposed to be imminent about the Tropicana, but at this point, we are celebrating the 2-year anniversary of that imminent announcement, so even though something has to be done soon, we are no longer holding our breath. The Riveria seems to have gotten a reprieve, which, given Vegas history, probably means it will be under the wrecking ball by the time you read this. Already gone is water park Wet 'n Wild, to make room for a water-themed resort called Voyagers, which will feature a lakefront, complete with yachts, on which will be the resort's nicest rooms. The owners of the Stardust have bought up parcels of surrounding land, apparently with an eye toward another Project CityCenter-type development. The clock continues to tick on the Frontier, with the owner continuing to make plans to knock it down and start over. And there is gossip that a W Hotel will be going up on Harmon, west of the freeway. Much of this probably will happen, but it could be tomorrow or 6 years from now.
Meanwhile, there are also entertainment rumors, with the most recurring featuring Michael Jackson in some kind of Céline-style residency. The most excellent such rumor, however, is that Planet Hollywood, once it properly takes over Aladdin, is building a special theater just for Mötley Crüe!
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